Speed-runs seem like a dime a dozen these days, with new records being broken all the time. Although they seem like a fad to some, others are extremely passionate about them and spend a generous amount of time figuring out how to beat the clock.
A few months back, we talked about one such individual, Cosmo Wright, whose January 2013 speed-run of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time amassed $700,000 for charity. It seems as though Wright isn't the only one breaking records in the land of Hyrule as another YouTube user EnNopp112 has broken the record for quickest playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
According to Kotaku, the speedrunner, who originates from Sweden, has been beating his own Majora's Mask world record since early January. As of 23rd March, his record is 1 hour, 28 minutes and 51 seconds. His playthrough was reportedly done without cheats. It is important to mention that this does not mean the run was glitch-free; as we reported back in January, players often exploit glitches to beat records. Even with glitches, the run is impressive.
Check it out for yourself:
This isn't his only incredible feat however. He still holds the record for fastest 100% completion on Majora's Mask. The title — which can easily take someone well over 20 hours of dedicated play time — took him less than five and a half hours to complete.
By comparison, the aforementioned Cosmo Wright is ranked 97th on the Majora's Mask speedrun leaderboards.
What do you think of the whole speed-runner phenomena? Is it a worthy accomplishment, or a waste of time? Let us know in the comments below.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 20
Speed running, has been, is & always will be amazing! I don't understand how people could try to put down others for accomplishing something amazing. I guess it's just their jealousy. Congratulations to the speed runner!
Why are Swedish people so epic?
More like Swede-Running... right?... anyone?
@benjamines Here, have a gold star: ☆
@benjamines Brilliant
Go Sweden! Jag undrar vad Sigge maye säger när de spelar igenom spelen så här?
I kinda liked the way the OOT guy warped strait from the Deku Tree to the final Ganondorf fight with small Link and three hearts. Completely broken the game, just like the slide through walls glitch in LOZ:ALTTP, except anyone can pull of the SNES glitch. I have a three-star LOZ:ALTTP glitch save on my Wii-U Virtual Console.
Now if only somebody need to use the clock tower warp exploit to break LOZ:MM.
I wish there was a community for speed runs that don't involve glitches at all. When I see this number it means literally nothing to me. For all I know you just roll at the wall the right way a couple times and glitch yourself right to the last boss.
I want to see how fast people can legitimately beat a game. Then I've got some sort of frame of reference and can be like, "Wow, that's super fast!"
@DerpSandwich I think there's a lot to be said for the amount of effort and time that goes into finding these glitches (which you don't really see in the streams). While a legitimate playthrough could be fun, there comes a point very soon where people are probably only shaving seconds off previous records, and they're spending umpteen hours doing it. I actually played through Ocarina of Time with a friend in a single day a few years back and it took all day and most of the night. While it was fun, I didn't feel like doing it again in a hurry, especially when I've other commitments in life getting in the way.
With the discovery of new glitches, there's the potential for huge gains in terms of reward. Not only that, but it adds another layer in that the people doing these things are actually taking the time and effort to truly understand how the game works and explore it in ways which no conventional guide or walkthrough has covered.
@MegaWatts I understand all that, and it takes a lot of skill; I just wish there was an alternative. A good speed run with glitches is impressive to someone who knows the ins and outs of the game, but a good speed run without can be appreciated by any person who even played the game.
It's a little unfair to say Cosmos is only ranked 97th next to EnNopp112, Cosmos practices multiple different runs of Ocarina of Time whilst EnNopp112 practices his Majora's Mask runs.
One of the beauties of the speedrunning community is that multiple people do ever so many different games for a wide coverage that makes marathons like Awesome Games Done Quick possible.
@benjamines You sir, win the internet for today.
This is awesome, but I am most impressed by him beating 100% of the game in under 5 and a half hours. That is insane. It probably takes me a good 30 hours every time I get 100% on Majora's Mask. I can't imagine the level of time management involved in strategizing a 100% speed run of that game.
Amazing gameplay. 10/10
@DerpSandwich For many games, there IS a glitchless category (mostly for runs with lots of big skips). Even if many people don't run it, anyone can run a glitchless run of a game and if noone has done so before, get the record. If people call you dumb for running a category that others don't run (so long as it's reasonable) then they are the dumb ones. Who knows, one person can even get more people to run the category for competition. It's the community that decides the categories, and it's not like the only type of speedrun is any%.
I find them fascinating to watch, but kind of a weird thing to devote so much time to.
Eh, don't care for speed runners...I mean, its fine, but...I'm not doing it. xD
Cosmo beat his record a couple days ago. 18:51.
Been a huge fan of him for a few years — I'm subscribed to his Twitch page and donate the $5 a month. I'm surprised and glad to see an article about him on this website — he breaks his record pretty frequently.
@DerpSandwich Speed Demos Archive actually supports both glitch-exploiting and glitch-free runs, it just depends on whether anyone did either way.
But there's one problem with glitch-free speedruns: if the game is too long, it becomes boring. Looking at a 10+ hour video of an RPG speedrun (just an example) also doesn't come off as impressive anymore, since 10 hours doesn't really sound fast.
But you have a point: some speedruns are more impressive when done whithout glitches. Yet, that isn't true for every game out there.
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